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An ASL Dictionary

Signing Savvy is a sign language dictionary containing several thousand high resolution videos of American Sign Language (ASL) signs, fingerspelled words, and other common signs used within the United States and Canada.

And Much More!

Signing Savvy is an ideal resource to use while you learn sign language. It includes the ability to view large sign videos, build your own word lists and share them with others, create virtual flash cards and quizzes, print signs, build sign phrases, ...and more

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Dramatic play is such an underrated way for children to learn. I had so much fun interacting with my preschool deaf children and watching how they would communicate through dramatic play. It opened the doors for so many teaching/learning opportunities.

One of my favorites was making restaurant menus including all the plastic play food we had in our dramatic play kitchens and creating our own cafe. The pages would include a digital photo of the food along with a printed version of the sign and then the price. These were all laminated and bound together with a spiral binder. With this we would play restaurant for hours working on such skills as following directions, using our manners to ask questions and treat people politely, table manners, proper nutrition, even math skills as we added up the bills and made change using a calculator. I seriously had some of my 1st graders making change and even leaving a tip! They never saw this as teaching...they were playing...AND LEARNING!

From all of us at Signing Savvy, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

While we worked for several years developing the site before it went live; the beginning of 2010 marks the end of our first year of being live on the Internet and we are very grateful for the support of all of our users. We particularly are thankful for full members who allow us to continue to grow the site.

In 2010, we will continue to expand the dictionary of sign videos and add member features that will aid you in your sign language learning.

In many preschool or early childhood classes you walk into the room and you see the written words for different objects around the room everywhere. A chair has the word CHAIR on it, the cupboards are marked with the words PUZZLES, GAMES, PAINT etc... to indicate their contents, all in an effort to teach the children the written words for the different objects from their environment that they interact with everyday.

To teach signs, do the same thing! You can leave the written words in place and just add the printed signs from Signing Savvy along side them. You will be amazed at how quickly the students start knowing and using the signs of the objects they interact with daily.

Comments

Signing

Savvy User KarahSavvy GuestSaturday, January 9, 2010

I have been signing for a few years...as soon as I found out that a friend of mine was becoming deaf. I took several semesters at college and was even able to use it in my work place. I use it for songs which I have signed at church and other functions. I never realized how much living in silence can affect someone until I was made to do an exercise where I was not able to hear...and then try and communicate without signing...to communicate to someone who didnt understand sign. Its frustrating and makes one feel hopeless. My family has a history of hearing loss and it has afflicted my grandmother and now my mom is losing her hearing...I am terrified but I know that I want to be prepared in case...This website is simple to use and has an enormous volume of words to learn from...Its awesome and I am glad that I found it!!! Would be wonderful if there were a feature to have this placed in areas such as Facebook or Myspace...get the word out so we can reach out! =]

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In each of these statements the word STAND is used. It is spelled the exact same way, pronounced the exact same way, yet it has VERY different meanings in each of it’s uses above.

Now one form of sign language, Signing Exact English, would tell you to sign the word STAND the same in all three sentences because of their 2 out of 3 rule. (If the word is spelled the same and pronounced the same, then you can sign it the same.) Our philosophy here at Signing Savvy, DOES NOT endorse that way of thinking. We feel that signing things conceptually correct is EXTREMELY important! This is one of the big differences between American Sign Language (ASL) and Signed Exact English.

With that said….let us look back at the three example sentences listed above.

You would want to sign the sentences using the meanings of the words. Those meanings are found in the parenthesis. The sentences that come off the lips would still be using the word STAND but the sign would correspond with the meaning.

Just a quick note about the Signing Savvy Phrase Builder - the phrase builder doesn’t have the intelligence to know what the true conceptual meaning of the words you typed in the search box are. It will simply give you the first variation of the sign for the word you entered. However, you can modify the resulting sign video using the tools in the phrase builder (see the video on the phrase builder for details).

Please consider this, and make sure your phrases are conceptually correct, when you are using the phrase builder OR translating from English to ASL on your own. Happy Signing! John.

Comments

Words not in dictionary

Savvy User AnthonySavvy MemberSunday, November 15, 2009

I use the flash cards to practice. When I come across a sign that does not match my book, I'd like to be able to add a discription for the word. Right now, I use the fingerspelled form but I have to refer to my book when I come to that word. For example, the word complete can mean entire or all (variant not shown in your dictionary). If I could add a discription that would show with the flash cards, I would know that the word is the same as the sign for 'all'.

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Lora

Savvy User LoraSavvy GuestMonday, November 23, 2009

I looking for a conceptual sign for pollinate. Any suggestions?

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mj

Savvy User MarySavvy GuestFriday, November 27, 2009

I hope someone watched last week's NCIS Los Angeles. Abby signed a message to a guy and I couldn't understand the conversation. Did anyone get it? Thanks.

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I Totally Agree

SGardnerSavvy GuestFriday, November 27, 2009

Conceptually signing is a must, and it is especially hard in singing songs. I would hate it if folks couldn't understand the true meanings of the songs.... Songs have so many metaphors and adjectives... Websters Thesaurus online is where I go for help. Good luck to all and God bless!

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anhyeuemluonluon_hp

signingsavvy77Savvy GuestMonday, November 30, 2009

Vietnamese

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mj...NCIS

John @ Signing SavvySavvy AdminMonday, November 30, 2009

Hey I did catch that in the episode..I was watching it and doing other work but from what I caught she asked him how he knew sign language and he said he had a deaf from when he was growing up. Cool huh? That is not the first time they have used sign on that show. Go NCIS!!!

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